1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a connector, which receives a female terminal for connecting electrically with a mating male terminal, to be used in a rear window of a car.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIGS. 8, 9 show an example of such kind of a connector by prior art, which is disclosed in J.P.A. H8-17504 issued by the same applicant of this invention.
A connector housing 51 shown in FIGS. 8, 9 is provided with a terminal receiving chamber 53 opening at a front end 51a and at a rear end, and the terminal receiving chamber 53 has a flexible locking piece 54 at a bottom wall 53a thereof. A locking bar 55 supported by an expandable hinge 56 to be opened or closed freely is combined with an outer wall 51c at the front end 51a of the connector housing 51. A locking window 57 is opened in a top wall 53b of the terminal receiving chamber 53.
An top end 54a of the flexible piece 54 is fitted into a locking hole 58 being formed in a bottom surface 52a of a female terminal 52 to lock firstly the female terminal 52.
The locking bar 55 is for locking secondarily the female terminal 52 and provided at a free end thereof with a locking projection 59 suspendingly. A locking hook 60 is formed upwardly at an end portion of the locking projection 59 to lock the locking bar 55 in the connector housing 51.
The locking bar 55 is pushed upwardly by an energizing force of the hinge 56, as shown in FIG. 9, when the locking bar 55 does not lock the female terminal 52. For secondarily locking the female terminal 52, the locking projection 59 is pushed down to be inserted into the locking window 57 of the top wall 53b, and a front wall 59a of the locking projection 59 is abutted onto a locking portion 61a being formed at a rear end of an electrical contact portion 61 of the female terminal 52.
Thereby, a locking tip 60a of the locking hook 60 engages with an edge portion 57a of the locking window 57 and then, the locking bar 55 is locked in the connector housing 51. The female terminal 52 is locked doubly by the flexible locking piece 54 and the locking bar 55 to be prevented securely from being extracted from the terminal receiving chamber 53.
The hinge 56 has an arcuate thin plate connecting the outer wall 51c of the connector housing 51 and the locking bar 55 to form the locking bar 55 integrally with the connector housing 51. To push the locking projection 59 of the locking bar 55 toward the hinge 56, the arcuate hinge 56 is bent with larger curvature so that the length of the hinge 56 is shortened to bring the locking projection 59 near to a front top of the connector housing 51.
Even if the locking bar 55 has a small dimensional error of the length, to push the locking projection 59 toward the hinge 56, the locking projection 59 can be inserted successfully into the locking window 57 of the terminal receiving chamber 53.
Objects to be Solved
The connector housing by prior art, as mentioned above, has following objects to be solved.
The hinge 56 and the locking bar 55 protrude outwardly from the connector housing 51 so that it is concerned that the projecting portion may interfere with a car body or the like. When the locking bar 55 does not lock the female terminal 52, the locking bar 55 is pushed upwardly by an energizing force of the hinge 56. Therefore, the locking bar 55 may interfere with a car body or electrical devices if the connector housing is installed in a small room of a car body. Even if the locking bar 55 locks the female terminal 52, the hinge 56 still protrudes outwardly from the connector housing 51 and has the same drawback.
Number of electrical devices in a car is being increased and then a room for the devices in a car is being shrunk. Then, devices are required to be smaller so that devices having protrusion are undesirable.
Furthermore, it is concerned that the expandable thin plate hinge 56 may be broken to separate the locking bar 55 and the connector housing 51. The outer wall 51c of the connector housing 51 and the locking bar 55 are connected integrally by the hinge 56. If the locking bar 55 has a dimensional error of the length to disable for inserting the locking bar 55 into the right position of the terminal receiving chamber 53, adjusting the length of the locking bar 55 by pushing or pulling the hinge 56 is required. When the locking bar 55 is unlocked out of the connector housing 51, the locking bar 55 is required to rotate around the hinge 56. Therefor, the thin plate hinge 56 has stress concentration and may be broken.
Furthermore, it is afraid that the locking bar 55 being locked in the connector housing 51 is unlocked unexpectedly. The locking bar 55 is locked by engaging the locking tip 60a of the locking hook 60 with the edge portion 57a of the locking window 57. However, the arcuate hinge 56 between the connector housing 51 and the locking bar 55 energizes the locking bar 55 always outwardly so that the locking tip 60a may be out of the edge portion 57a of the locking window 57 and the locking bar 55 may be unlocked if the locking bar 55 protruding outwardly from the connector housing 51 is loaded unexpectedly.
To overcome the above drawback of prior art, one object of this invention is to provide a small connector which has no outward protrusions, high durability with a locking bar, high reliability of locking a terminal and easy operation of unlocking a male terminal and a female terminal.
How to Attain the Object
In order to attain the objects, a connector, according to this invention, which includes a connector housing having a terminal receiving chamber inside and a female terminal being received in the terminal receiving chamber for contacting electrically with a mating male terminal, the connector housing comprises a housing body and a cover body being mounted on the housing body for covering in the connector housing. The cover body has side walls on both side thereof and a cover wall across the side walls. An operating flap being formed in the cover wall is provided suspendingly with a locking bar being inserted into the terminal receiving chamber for locking the female terminal.
If the cover body with the cover wall is mounted in the housing body as mentioned above, the locking bar to be inserted from an opening portion to the terminal receiving chamber can be formed integrally with the cover wall of the cover body. If the locking bar is provided suspendingly on the operating flap, the locking bar can be inserted into the terminal receiving chamber without bending the operating flap outwardly from the cover wall. When closing the cover body, the locking bar goes into the terminal receiving chamber of the housing and an end portion of the locking bar abuts on an abutting portion being formed at a rear end of an electrical contact portion of the female terminal to lock the female terminal.
In the connector as mentioned above, the operating flap is formed by slitting the cover wall.
If the operating flap is formed by slitting the cover wall, as mentioned above, the operating flap can be flexible without deformation or strength reduction of the cover body.
In the connector as mentioned above, the female terminal has a spring contact piece in a cylindrical electrical contact portion and the locking bar is provided, at an end portion thereof, with a pressing portion to abut on the spring contact piece.
If the pressing portion is provided at the end portion of the locking bar as mentioned above, locking of the both terminals can be unlocked by pushing down the operating flap to make the pressing portion of the locking bar abut on the spring contact portion. An engaging portion is formed in the spring contact portion of the female terminal, and an engaged portion is formed in the electrical contact portion of the male terminal, and then, mating the engaging portion and the engaged portion, the both terminals are locked mutually to fit and connect. The spring contact portion must be pushed down to unlock the both terminals. Therefore, as mentioned above, the both terminals are easily unlocked only by pushing the operating flap.
In the connector as mentioned above, the operating flap is provided on the same plane of the cover wall and the locking bar is maintained in the terminal receiving chamber when the cover body is closed.
If the operating flap is provided on the same plane of the cover wall as mentioned above, the operating flap does not protrude outwardly from the cover body and is prevented from interfering with other devices in the both of the cover open and close conditions. The locking bar is maintained through the opening portion in the terminal receiving chamber so that it is prevented that the terminal is unlocked and extracted.
In the connector as mentioned above, a space is formed between the cover wall and the housing body.
In the above structure, the space between the cover wall and the housing body is formed as a room for bending so that a top end portion of the operating flap can be pushed downwardly at a fulcrum of a base end portion of the operating flap.
In the connector as mentioned above, the cover wall is provided with a plurality of ribs, at the inside thereof.
In the structure as mentioned above, the ribs are placed to abut on a wall of the housing body. When pushing the operating flap down, the ribs abut on the wall of the housing body so that the cover body is prevented from deforming and then only operating flap can be bent downwardly.
In the connector as mentioned above, a hinge is provided between the housing body and the cover body to join the both bodies integrally.
If the housing body and the cover body are joined integrally by the hinge as mentioned above, the cover body can be mounted in a right position of the housing body and then the locking bar can be also positioned accurately.
In the connector as mentioned above, the locking bar is provided at a free end of the operating flap and the pressing portion abuts on a free end of the spring contact piece.
If the locking bar is provided at the free end of the operating flap as mentioned above, the operating flap can be bent largely at a fulcrum of the base end portion, a fixed end, by a small pushing force and the pressing portion of the locking bar abuts on the free end of the spring contact piece to unlock the both terminals.
In the connector as mentioned above, the cover body is formed at one end portion in the length thereof with a conically tapered wall to form an electric wire insertion opening.
In the above structure, the conical tapered wall, narrowing gradually toward a rear end of the cover body, covers a rear end opening of the housing body as a female terminal insertion side so that it is prevented that a water-drop dropping on a rear window goes into the terminal receiving chamber from the rear end opening. An electric wire is clamped by the electric wire insertion opening for preventing looseness or noise.
The above and other objects and features of this invention will become more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.